I trust you
by Futuristic Laser
Summary: His parents never cared. Not about him, not about the empire, not anything. Years of abuse and neglect have left him scarred and afraid. So what happens when the Ghost crew basically save him? Will he ever be able to trust again? I mean, how can he after what happened wit his parents? (A.U.) rating may change
1. Chapter 1

Kanan walked down, through the Lothal market. He and Sabine had been given the chore of supply shopping and had almost everything on the list Hera had given them. "Well, that's most of it." Kanan looked over to the newest member of the crew.

The sixteen year old looked up at the Jedi. "We just need one more thing." Glancing down at the data pad, she read the last item they needed. "A Declaruh? What even is that?"

The large man let out an annoyed sigh, "It's a fruit that Hera asked for _every_ time I go to the market." And he really did mean _every, single_ time. Only when he went, not once does he remember Zeb having to get this fruit. Only him. "This is gonna be fun." If people could see sarcasm, they'd see a lot pouring out of his mouth.

It took half an hour, but they did find one and was able to get the last in stock, and were now taking a shortcut (well, more of what Kanan thought would be a shortcut but turned into the long way) pass some homes.

Grabbing his head, Kanan lent onto the side of the closest building. Fear, fear and pain. That was all he felt, he didn't know why but he couldn't get rid of it. Stings shot through his back. Just as that was happening, just as Sabine was about to ask if he was all right, they heard a scream.

Milliseconds later, a few houses down, a young boy was thrown out of the house and onto the ground. Clothes torn and bloodied, electric blue eyes with filled to the brim with fear and pain as tears fell. The very fear and pain Kanan had just felt. Except multiplied by a thousand.

He didn't know what, but something pulled Kanan towards this kid. Sabine followed closely behind, still slightly startled from what she had just witnessed. As Kanan got closer he saw the wounds better. Whip marks. Deep one too. He also took notice to the bruise on the poor boy's face.

When Kanan got close enough he crouched down and got the child's attention. "Hey," the raven haired boy eyed the man and girl, sobbs slightly slowing. "I'm Kanan and this is Sabine." The child, which could be no more than ten or eleven tops, eyed them suspiciously. "We want to help you." Kanan put his hand out for the boy to take. "What's your name?"

"E-Ezra." His voice was weak and pained. When Ezra didn't grab Kanan's hand he brought it back, not exactly sure how to get the kid to the Ghost to treat his back. Luckily, he had Sabine.

Coming a bit closer, she knelt down next to Kanan. "Can we take you back to our ship?" Ezra flinched when her finger came close, still not sure if he should trust these strangers. Than again, it couldn't be any worse than what happens at home. Besides, there was something about the man the felt… comforting? It'd been a long time since he felt like that. Nodding his head, he let Kanan pick him up bridal style. He new from experience he'd be to weak to walk anyways. Sabine got out her comm as they started their walk to let Hera know of their situation.

Ezra fell asleep in Kanan's arms. Due to blood lost or exhaustion, they didn't know. Either way they had to get to the Ghost soon. "Do you think he's going be okay?" Sabine couldn't help asking, she was really worried for the kid. It's clear he'd been abused. And with nothing on hand to wrap up his back they couldn't properly stop the blood flow yet.

"I'll make sure of it." Kanan responded as they walked up the ramp into the ship. Hera was already waiting for them.

Upon seeing the boy in Kanan's arms, she became instantly worried. "Oh my goodness, get him to the med bay now." Sabine started to follow Kanna but Hera stopped me. "Can you take the supplies in?" She did as she was told and put the supplies away.

Kanan and Hera wrapped him up and gave his health an over all check. He had many bruises, cut, and more scars than either of them would likes. He was also very skinny. Not even a minute after they had finished, Ezra woke up. "Huh? Where am I? Who are you?" He gestured to Hera.

"This is Hera. She's the pilot of the ship we live on." Kanan tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice. As much as he didn't want to keep the kid here against his will, he didn't want to let him go back to that house until he knew exactly what was going on. So, for all he knew Ezra could end up running off and they'd never find him again.

Ezra nodded in acceptance but didn't say anything. They all just stood in an awkward silence for a minute. The silence only broke after they heard a man's yell coming from out of the med bay. Ezra flinched at the sound. "A-and who w-was that?" Seeing Ezra's scared form, Hera came a little closer to him.

"Relax, hun. It's only Zeb, he's another member of our crew." Her words were calming and soft. She looked over him once again, he obviously needed to be cleaned up. But she also wanted to feed him, and not just a nutrition bar. She wanted to get a hot meal in his stomach. Hera thought of every thing she could use, not much, but enough. "You must be hungry." She offered her hand to help him down.

Ezra took Hera's hand, giving a slight hiss of pain at the movement. When they got to the common room, Zeb was sitting there looking at the holonet. Zeb looked up at the three that had just walked in, a bit surprised to see the younger male. "Zeb this is Ezra, the child Kanan and Sabine… ran into. Ezra, this is Zeb. Our Crew mate."

Zeb stood up and put his hand out for Ezra o shake. "Hey kid." When Ezra didn't take his hand he sat back down. Hera put a reassuring hand on Ezra's back and ushered him to the kitchen like area while Kanan stayed in the common room.

Hera told him to sit at the table while she got to work. Some time while she was cooking, they started talking. "So, how old are you?" Hera stared awkwardly.

"Eleven." His voice sounded barren, void of any emotion.

"Any specific foods you like?"

"No, not really." Hera nodded looking at the ingredients she had pulled out.

"Any allergens I should be aware of?"

"Why does that matter?" Hera almost jumped at the harshness of his voice.

"Well, if your going to be staying with us…" Ezra cut her off, not letting het finish the thought.

"Who said I'm staying with you?!" It was more like a demand than a question, causing Hera to pause at the sudden defendciveness.

"Because we're not idiots and we put together what's going on at your house." They both looked up to see Kanan standing in the doorway. Him and Ezra locked eyes for a moment before Ezra looked down, suddenly finding the table very interesting. Kanan sighed as he sat across from Ezra. "Listen. Weather or not you like it, we know something's going on at your house. And we just want to help." Ezra looked up at the man, meeting his eyes. "Ok?"

Ezra nodded back at the man, "Ok."


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, first of all. WOW! This is the most reviews, favorites, and follows I've ever gotten in one chapter! I'm so happy right now I can't even tell you. So to all those who reviewed, thank you.**

 _Previously_

" _Listen. Weather or not you like it, we know something's going on at your house. And we just want to help." Ezra looked up at the man, meeting his eyes. "Ok?"_

 _Ezra nodded back at the man, "Ok."_

"Alright, hope you like cheddar." Hera put a plate consisting of a grilled cheese sandwich in front of Ezra. Placing a cup of water next to him.

"Hera!" The three in the make-shift kitchen heard a female voice through the com.

"What is it Sabine?" Hera replied, cleaning the dishes she had used to make the sandwich.

"You might wanna see this!" Her tone sounded urgent, both Hera and Kanan went to get up.

"You stay with Ezra," Hera said to Kanan. "I'll see what Sabine wants." She walked down the corridors to the cockpit where Sabine was looking out the windshield. "What is it Sabine." Hera went next to Sabine and saw two adults in the field between the ship and the town. "That man. He looks like…" Hera put a hand over her mouth as she let out a gasp.

Sabine didn't hesitate to finish for the Twi-leck. "Ezra." She looked over to the older woman. "What are we going do?"

Hera stood straight up, ready to take the bull by the horns. After seeing scars years old on the boy, there was no way she was going to let him go back there. "Get Ezra to Kanan's room. And try not to let him know what's going on. We don't know how he will react." Sabine nodded and went to the common room where she saw the jedi and the kid walking out of the kitchen.

She quickly pulled the man aside and whispered into his ear. "What?" Kanan suddenly spoke out. Sabine whispered one more thing into his ear and he walked back to Ezra, who was still standing I the doorway. Very confused at the situation. "C'mon kid. Let's get you some new clothes."

Ezra looked down at his torn, bloodied clothes that had a light lair of dirt on them. "Yea, I could use something clean, couldn't I?" They walked down the corridor, stopping in front of a door. Ezra was slightly hesitant to follow as Kanan walked in. But after Kanan waved him in, he followed. Not confident that he'd be alright. Either way, something didn't feel right.

Hera waked out onto the plain, catching the attention of two others. How long had it been anyways, since they brought the kid in. Four, maybe even five, hours? Anyway, that didn't matter right now. Even if she wasn't sure why, she had to protect Ezra.

"Hi there," the woman greeted. Her voice was soft, but slightly slurred, as if she had recently been drinking. "Would you've happened to see a young boy, our son, out here by any chance?" Hera breath in and out. Reminding herself to stay calm.

"I've seen many children walk through this field today." Hera knew she had to play it cool if she really wanted to find out who these people were. "Mind telling me what your son looks like?"

"Well," the man began, voice ruff and a little more slurred than the woman's. "He has darkish hair like me, and has electric blue eyes." _Bingo,_ thought Hera. "And apparently has a knack for wandering off."

Hera shook her head, playing the part as if she was an experienced actress. "Sorry. Haven't seen any kids around matching that description. But I'll keep an eye out." _For you,_ Hera added to herself.

"Thank you." The man was slightly leaning on his, what she assumed to be, his wife now. "If you see him tell him to come home. And if he's not back by morning, we'll check again."

Hera smiled as she walked back onto the Ghost. "Okay." _To bad we won't be here._ Hera walked by the cockpit and saw Kanan sitting on one of the chairs.

Hera sat down gently in the seat next to him. "They gone?" He asked. Hera nodded. "Were they looking for him?" She nodded again. Kanan let out a sigh as he sat up. "What are we going to do?"

"Leave." She said simply as Chopper wheeled in, preventing Kanan from asking the many questions he had at the moment.

Chopper was swinging his arm around and spilling out binary faster than even Hera could understand. "Whoa, whoa Chop, slow down." The droid did just that. After he finished, Hera let out a sigh. "Than fix it." The droid made a sound that seemed to resemble that of whining. "No buts, just do it."

"What was that all about?" Kanan couldn't help asking what Chopper did this time.

"He broke the toaster." Hera stated matter of factly. Judging by the look on her face Kanan didn't even want to know. "Where's Ezra?"

Kanan gave a light chuckle. "Got him changed into some of my old clothes. That worked pretty well actually, but he was so tired he fell asleep as soon as he laid down." Kanan looked over see Hera smiling as she did something with the controls. "So, what's this thing about leaving?"

Hera turned on her chair and faced him. "They are looking for him Kanan. And I don't like the chances of him ending up back with them if we stay." Hera turned back to the controls again.

Kanan knew it was probably best if they left, however he knew something had to be done before that. "We should probably ask the id about it first."

"I know," Hera replied. "I know."


	3. Chapter 3

**I know it's been a while but school had me doing project than big test than project than** _ **another**_ **big test and well, I guess life happened. You know that thing outside the interweb? Yeah, that.**

 _Previously_

" _They are looking for him, Kanan. And I don't like the chances of him ending up back with them if we stay." "We should probably ask the kid first." "I know," Hera replied. "I know."_

…

He didn't really conk out. How could he? He didn't know who these people were or what they would do to him. For all Ezra knew they were slave traders taking advantage of a poor hurt boy.

Ezra rolled onto his back, giving out a hiss of pain before going back onto his side. Eventually he just sat up. A groaning noise of frustration escaped his mouth. He wanted to think about these people that way, he really did. But there was just… something about them.

It was stupid. He knew it was. However, ever since he could remember, he'd always get vibes about people. And this crew, they had the complete opposite feel to his parents and he couldn't explain it. It was starting to drive him crazy.

After a minute or two he decided to get off the bed. After a short, but still painful, decent he began to walk out of the room. The pant legs of Kanan's grey sweat pants dragging a bit behind him. The yellow tee shirt just barley staying up on his shoulder.

The hallways were dark, indicating that most of the ship should be asleep. Ezra walked through the ship in the direction of the common room. He walked up and opened the door.

Ezra's eyes widened with fear as he walked into his parents living room. He didn't know how, but at the moment he didn't care. Only one thing was running through his mind was to get out. _Get out! Get out! GET OUT!_ Just as he was about to run out the door and back into the Ghost, it turned into a wall and his parents appeared behind him.

Ezra spun on his heals, back against the wall as his parents took a step closer. He could feel them again. The bad feelings. It made him feel cold and afraid, especially the feel his mother gave off. "Do you really think we don't know where you are?" His mother spoke in a teasing voice. He wanted no more than to leave this horrid lace, however, that was not an option at the moment.

Almost subconsciously, Ezra began to shake with fear. "No," he whispered to himself.

"Oh, but yes." His father joined in with an even more threatening voice, "do you really think these strangers could protect you? And what makes you think they even want to?"

Shrinking in on him self, he barely spoke. "No." Ezra's voice was raised slightly.

"We're coming Ezra. And no one will be able to save you." His mom was back to her taunting. "Don't you remember Johanna?" She began to stroke his head, all the while Ezra was trying to get far away as possible. "That poor, sweat lady," his mother took a small pause before styling an evil smile. "And her daughter. What was her name? Miranda? Such a shame that she'll never graduate. And all because she wanted to protect _you_."

"NO! NO! NO!" Ezra screamed as he grabbed his head. His mother's words echoing in his head. _All because she wanted to protect you._ Over and over and over. Never stopping.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been on the ground, rocking while holding his head. Screaming, "They're coming! They're coming!" He wasn't sure when the dream ended, or when he noticed the twi-leck from earlier holding him and rubbing his back. Being gentle of his marks. Whispering calming words to him.

After a few minutes, his shouting had long been over as he looked at his comforter. "H-Hera?" His voice was hoarse, much so that you could tell that he'd been screaming. As he looked around he noticed the others. The girl in mando armor, The furryish purple guy, and Kanan. All standing in the door way.

"Hun?" Ezra spun his head towards Hera. Once again fear shot through his veins. _This is it,_ he thought. _This is where they get rid of me._ "Are you okay?" He was literally at a loss for words. The question was so unexpected he almost completely forgot how to talk.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." He stood up on a pair of wobbly legs. "Just a nightmare, I guess." Hera and Kanan shared a look, _now or never._

"Sabine? Zeb?" Hera looked over to the two crew mates. "Why don't you get Ezra something to drink." It wasn't really a question.

As the two left, Kanan came over and helped Hera get Ezra to sit on the bed. "You want to talk about it?" Kanan asked as Ezra looked at his lap, both adults taking note of how scrawny his bones felt under their hands.

"Not really." His voice was shallow. All of the sudden, Ezra seemed even smaller and younger than he already was.

Hera reached over and hugged him around the neck. "Oh, hun." Ezra was tense a first but he eventually relaxed under her arms. She let go of him, but only so he could drink the water Sabine had brought for him.

"So listen," Kanan began. "We have to meet someone on the other side of Lothal tomorrow, would that be okay with you?" Ezra looked up to the older male with a… hopeful gleam in his eyes? _Well that's strange._

"You mean, like, leave but stay on Lothal?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Yeah," for the first time since they met the child, they saw the faintest hint of a smile. Not an actual smile but close enough. "I'm alright with that."

Hera stood up with her hands on her hips. "It's settled than. Tomorrow, we meet Rick."

 **Oh, snap! What was that nightmare about? Who is Rick? Where's Chopper? When are Ezra's parents gonna come back into play? I'm not really sure but I'll have to figure it out sooner or later won't I.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading the chapter and sorry for the delay. But hey, this is only something I manage to do in my spare time. Hopefully with all the breaks coming up I'll have more frequent updates.**

 _ **DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Reasons and apologies on bottom**

 _Previously_

" _It's settled than. Tomorrow we meet Rick"_

…

"Wait a minute!" Ezra spoke out to the adults. "Who's Rick and why are we meeting him?"

Hera glanced ay Kanan before he messed up the boy's hair. "Trust me kid," He replied as Ezra swatted the older male's hand away. "The less you know the better."

Both of them gave a little chuckle at the pouty face Ezra pulled upon not getting the answers he wanted. However the brief moment of happiness was ruined when an orange and white droid came bustling in. Ezra tensed up a bit at the sudden appearance of the unknown machine, but quickly calmed after a reassuring pat on the shoulder from Kanan. _What is it about this guy,_ Ezra asked himself. _Normally the slightest touch would send me running._

"Chopper?!" Hera screamed as Kanan put his hand back on Ezra's shoulder when he, once again, tensed up. "Where have you been? You never came when I called you into the cockpit, so where were you?"

Chopper let out a series of beeps and whistles, to fast for anyone but Hera to follow. "Oh no," The twi-leck sprinted down the hall, off to an unknown location. Kanan went to follow when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked down to see a slightly scared looking Ezra.

"Kanan, what's going on?"

Kanan crouched down to the boy's level, "I'm sure it's nothing. Just stay right here and I'll be right back." He stood up to leave. "Chopper, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." Kanan went to the cockpit where he found Hera messing with the controls. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, Chopper just exaggerated how close to the surface we were," taking an exasperated breath that was just filled with annoyance, Hera started doing more things with the controls. "But we are close enough to land."

"So everything's okay?" Both adults turned around to see Ezra standing in the doorway.

Kanan face palmed as he stated, "I thought I told Chopper to watch you." It was probably supposed to sound more like a question than the statement it came out as.

"Oh Yeah, he seems _great_ at that." Ezra took a seat in the most colorful chair out of the four. _Sabines,_ he guessed. He noticed that they had landed on another part of Lothal, it was a smaller looking town with makeshift buildings and tents rather than actual houses. "Is this where we're meeting the Rick guy?"

"No, it's where we're meeting someone else." Kanan stood up as the three other crewmates entered the cockpit.

Ezra stood up as well, "Cool." He was about to follow when a large purple hand stopped him.

"By 'we' he meant me, Sabine, Chopper, and him. You're staying here." Zeb sounded more gruff than he intended but their kind of business was nothing for a kid to get involved in. Cruddy back round or not. Ezra gave another slight pout as the Ghost crew, minus Hera, walked out of the cockpit.

"I'm gonna go to the refresher. Ezra said to Hera, gesturing with his thumb.

"Okay Ezra," she turned back to the controls. "Just don't get stuck in there." She smiled as he walked out of the cockpit.

…

Zeb, Sabine, an the rest walked a bit over half the distance between the town and where the Ghost had actually landed when Kanan stopped walking and turned around. "I know you're there so just come out would you?" The rest of the crew turned around to see who he was talking to only to be greeted by a familiar boy with blue eyes coming out from behind a dried out bush.

"Hera told you, didn't she?" The boy hurried up to the others, but instead of an answer he got a small shove and Kanan telling him to come on.

After a little more walking, they reached the edge of the small little village. Ezra saw many different faces as they passed by. Faces holding emotions and feelings that he knew all to well. Mostly pain, hunger, and a want to leave a place one was forced to stay in. "What happened to these people?" Ezra asked.

Zeb looked him straight in the eyes as he offered his two word answer. "The Empire."

"Most of them had their land and farms taken away." Ezra looked and turned to the speaker, Sabine. Even with her helmet, she sounded so monotone, as if this was an everyday thing she saw.

Next he turned to Kanan, "This is where people go when they have nowhere else left." And for the first time, Ezra truly realized, he wasn't the only one suffering, he wasn't the only one in pain. He didn't really know to much about the Empire, only the few things he heard from his parents rare times of allowing a radio broadcast. But from what little he heard, he thought the Empire was just the government of the galaxy, that they promised to bring order and peace. But this wasn't order and peace, no, this was fear and pain. They were, in many aspects, like his parents. They were supposed to be helpful and kind, but instead they were vicious and cruel.

Looking about, he had realized he had fallen a little behind the others. Jogging a bit to catch up and was shocked to see that Kanan had stopped in front of a very large frightening looking, yellow man with chiseled horns. Kanan greeted the man using the name Vizago. The two adults began to talk but Ezra didn't pay much attention. He was to busy looking around.

After a few minutes, The crew's business with Vizago was over and they started heading back to the Ghost. However, Ezra noticed that the crew had nothing new. _What was the point of coming here?_ The young boy asked himself as they boarded the ghost.

Once they arrived, everyone dispersed off to wherever they were as Kanan went to the cockpit where Hera would most likely be, and Zeb went in the direction of his cabin, most likely to take a nap. Ezra decided just to tag along with Sabine and watch her paint. After about twenty minutes the ship began flying again. For the first time in a little while, Ezra began to wonder, _where are these people taking me?_

 _..._

 **Yeah… I'm really sorry. For both not updating in a while and that this isn't my best. I just felt really bad and needed to get _something_ out there. So consider this like half of a whole chapter I guess. I will try to get these updates out sooner next time but remember, I have a life and I can't always let this be my top priority. But once again, I _will_ try.**

 **Thank you for your patience.**


	5. VOTE!

**ATTENTION!**

 **I'm not going to bother with excuses and get right o the point. I don't like this story as it is. It has issues that bother me and I would like to correct. Now, I can do this one of two way...**

 **1\. Continue writing and try to fix the issues in cuter chapters**

 **OR**

 **2\. A rewrite.**

 **Rewriting the book would obviously mean changes. Example of one of these changes is how Ezra meets the crew, and making other things a little clearer. However, I do have a set way I want this story to end so the plot as a whole is still going to go in the same general direction.**

 **I'm okay with doing either option, would greatly appreciate any and all feedback on this matter, and will be accepting votes till June 6th.**

 **To vote, either review with a "1" or "2".**

 **Thank you for your time and patience as well as your help.**

 **~Laser**


	6. And the winner is

**The votes are in!**

Results:

rewrite-17

keep going as is- 5

either option-2

And there you have it folks. Rewrite is the winner!

I'm not sure when exactly the story will come out but it will be as soon as possible and i'm going to try to stick with an actual schedule this time around so the updates will be more frequent. AS for the new title, I was thinking "Can you trust me?" (Wow, such good, much original). If you have any questions or concerns feel free to PM me or write review, I will try to answer all that I can.

As for right now, just keep an eye out and I'll let you when it is published, thank you and have good day, night, morning or whatever.

\- Laser


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